@cfpinz , I like Dr Todd Wiseman from Dayton Vet. He does several of the dairies down this way now too. He really helped us when we had some issues with a bought bull.... turns out it was a serious case of Johnes.... he blood tested and the titers were off the charts. He also is good with doing things like an LDA and can do it in the field with no big deal... some require you to take the cow to the vet office... a couple shots, put the cow down with a tranq like rompum, do the surgery, and done and up.....
He also does the bangs vacc on the heifers we keep for replacements.... and I can call him and get most drugs with no big deal. We also deal with Blue Ridge Vet in Lexington, but our favorite vet there retired out and have not found anyone else there that we "really like"....
We have a retired vet friend that does alot of our preg checks; palpation; because he will do them on the weekend when my son is off. But he had shoulder surgery and has not been able to do it since last year. Have another friend that worked for us in high school, that did it in college, and has done some but the accuracy has been ?????... I am not accurate until the fetus gets more developed... 5+ months.... and will check the ones we buy from the stockyards... and have been pretty accurate on them. But I cannot do alot due to the knees hurting with the standing for any length of time.
Since this group of cows were checked by the retired vet just before his surgery, then rechecked by the friend... it is time to stop feeding them if they are not. We want to move cattle around, and wean the last of the heifers off the cows that should be starting in another 6-8 weeks... and if these cows were shorter bred, and will be calving soon, then they can just go with the rest that are due this fall.
With it getting really dry, we are looking at what we might have to do with cattle at certain places. Have several fields to rotate cattle to yet, but a couple places there is not any cross fencing....so might have to move some stuff around or even start feeding. There are several farmers already feeding some hay...
Cull cow prices are dropping a bit, and if there are many open in this group... they are going now while they are in good condition and before prices drop more.